Less Is More

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

I wanna run to you..

Doesn't this look like a clip from a gushy chick flick of 2 long lost lovers?

It wasn't. Limo has her bad habit back of chasing horses:-x I broke her of the habit a couple of years ago with a Citronella spray collar and it worked, but she has started up again. I keep meaning to put it back on her I just have to find the pieces. It has a noise warning, and then 2 spray settings to choose from, I would just blast her full spray with no warning when I used it:-) It made me feel powerful, it was great.

I hope Lester is enjoying his retirement. He seems to be. He's still the boss of his herd and still comes running when you call. He has picked up this very annoying habit though in the last year and it's gotten worse, but he grabs his halter and the other halters if you're not careful and won't let go. He grabs the nose band as you're pulling it over his nose, if you get that far then you have to be fast enough before he bites the cheek straps otherwise you get into a game of tug-o-war for him:-/ Sometimes it's cute, but other times I just want to get the halter on and the others haltered and back to the barn, oh say when it's pouring

down raining!

Thursday, October 8, 2009

Spooky Shirt

Yes this is a cheap ploy for you all to buy a T-shirt I designed:-) Every year Southeastern Greyhound Club hosts a "Greyfest" and this year it falls on October 31 so I got to design a logo with a Halloween theme. Greyfest is a day of fun for greyhounds and their owners-games, contests, shopping and more!

I'm very happy with how it came out:-) The design can be purchased on anything Cafepress offers- shirts, cards, bags etc and of course the proceeds benefits greyhounds! I need to have mine printed up with just the words Spooky on it for my late greyhound...

I thought this pic was funny, good ol Limo. I've stayed true to Lester's retirement he's just a pasture/barn ornament now. He's getting his fuzzy fall coat in so he's been an itchy boy. He LOVES to be groomed and will stand all day for a curry comb. I'm glad he enjoys it and isn't a typical thin skinned TB that doesn't like it.

Is it wrong of me to be sorta glad when Less is moving funny? I still think he's comfortable enough, but there is just something def' off about him. It's just much easier to stay off of him when I see that things aren't right. He still runs and plays and of course looks pretty fine, but so does my friend's dog that has a spinal injury- you can't tell anything is wrong with her until you see her walk.

Sunday, August 23, 2009

Stick a fork in us...we're done

I know I've said this before, but I mean it this time. No more riding Lester. I haven't posted about him in a long time because I guess I knew this is where we were heading again, but I wasn't ready to admit it. It started back in June when I started having second thoughts again. A friend of mine needed horses and riders for a photo shoot

for a local stable and so my friends and I agreed to trailer over and be the models for the photos. We had about 2 weeks to prepare, I wasn't getting on Lester a whole lot, maybe once or twice every couple of weeks, but I thought I should get on him a little more just so he'd be ready. I don't feel I over did it, we walked alot and would do a few trot sets and rode for a total of about 15-20 mins. He seemed OK up until the last day or so before the photo shoot. He was really tense and chewed on the bit nervously. The day of the shoot I bathed him and braided his mane and made him all pretty. We trailered over and Less was a nervous wreck, more so than I thought he'd be. I was surprised he didn't

really "spook" at any one thing, but he felt like a ticking time bomb the whole time. It wasn't much fun for me. When I first got on him I could feel a "hump" in his back and he chomped on the bit constantly. I'm so disappointed in most of the photos, they didn't get one good action shot, the timing on his legs were all wrong. It felt like they were taking a million pics too, I thought for sure there would be some good ones. He blew up twice and I knew not to push him too much so we only trotted. I can't even remember the last time we cantered.
After the photo shoot I gave him a month off. I'm not sure if it was the trailer ride over there and

back that did it, but he seemed to be stiffer in his neck than ever. He started blowing up again when I would tack him up and girth him. His eyes would get really wide and he'd just try

to bolt even though as

always I had girthed him as slowly as I could and let him walk every other hole I girthed. Trotting in hand would immediately get him chomping and grinding the bit. I would think to myself what the hell am I doing and would feel sick to my stomach about getting on my own horse:-( But he is mine and I wanted to prove I, we, could still do it. When I got on he had a fast, nervous walk and a hump in his back. Ready to explode, it was no longer fun, only nerve racking for the both of us. He spooked endlessly, jumped at every little thing, even things that he was facing like a car driving up the driveway. I had two rides like that and decided he needed the chiropractor and I wouldn't attempt riding him again until I had her out. The chiropractor has come and gone. He needed adjustments in his neck, hips, lower back and shoulders. The lower back was a a new one which explained the hump in his back and blowing up while being tacked up. I put him on a new supplement, Remission, it's supposed to help him break down sugars in his body, she said he's very achy in his joints. The chiropractor said I could get on him 2 days later after the adjustments, but I waited another 2 1/2 weeks.
So today I was going to get back on him. Tacking him up went smoothly. He didn't panic and freak out about the girth. I led him out to the riding area and was just walking around when he started tucking his butt and trying to bolt. He started his nervous chomping and would not settle. He kept trying to bolt and buck. I got the lunge line and put him on it and he trotted a few circles and then just blew up. He was bucking and rearing and almost went over. And this wasn't just a "I feel good because I haven't done any work lately buck", it was a panic. I stopped him and reset his saddle and pad and regirthed him. He turned his head to the right and was biting at the saddle. I made sure nothing was poking him and sent him out again and had the same reaction, bucking and rearing. I took the saddle off and sent him out

again, he didn't buck or rear, but he was short stepping and lame now. There's just no point to it, no fun in it and it's far too dangerous to try and ride him any

more.

Sunday, July 19, 2009

One tough Nut...

Thought I would post some fun pics of the Nut... We have almost had her for a year now and she keeps growing on me:-) She really turned out to be the perfect farm dog, though still follows too intently while I'm on horse back, but lets face it I don't do much riding anymore anyways.
Friday night while I was watching Matt fish Peanut heard the kennel dogs barking and ran to check things out. She was running along the hillside and I yelled out to her "don't fall", just then she hit a hole and did a complete somersault and ate it big time. She yelped, but got up immediately, seemed a bit stunned, but then came running over to be as if nothing ever happened. I checked out her toes, limbs and back and didn't find any ouchy spots. But I got her

to lay down in the lake for a good 10 mins and let the cool water help keep any swelling down. I was shocked come Saturday morning, OK it was really afternoon because cause that's been I finally got up:-p, but she wasn't limping or anything. I expected her to be very sore and stiff, but it's like nothing happened at all. It wasn't a pretty fall and she ate alot of dirt so we are very lucky she didn't get hurt!